


Life is not a Shoujo Manga (Except If You Fall for My Brother’s Boyfriend)

by isuilde



Category: Free!
Genre: Established Relationship, Failed attempt at humor, Friendship, M/M, One-Sided Crush, Unrepentant Fluff, lame shoujo manga scenes, makoto has a fan club, siblings fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isuilde/pseuds/isuilde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So half of Iwatobi High School female population (and arguably some of the males) are crushing on Makoto. No surprise there. Gou isn't going to destroy their dreams by saying Makoto is dating her brother, nope.</p>
<p>But then her best friend has a crush on Makoto, too, and Gou's life is suddenly filled with shoujo manga-like moments. Frankly, she's reconsidering her life choices afterwards.</p>
<p>(She still loves Chigusa, though. She loves her brother and Makoto, too, and that doesn't have anything to do with muscles.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life is not a Shoujo Manga (Except If You Fall for My Brother’s Boyfriend)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ad_Astra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ad_Astra/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, [Ad_Astra](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ad_Astra/pseuds/Ad_Astra%22)! Ugh, I’m sorry this is late, let’s pretend it’s still your birthday anyway? This is totally my attempt on bribing you for more Denial (or car sex? pretty pls?). Kidding, ahahaha, ~~not really~~. BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY, thank you so much for being fabulous, I’m glad to have such an amazing fellow writer in our MakoRin side of the fandom. :3 This is a little gratitude for the beautiful things you have given us to read, because they make me so happy. I am eternally glad you decided to jump head-first into the blackhole that is MakoRin. =))

Question one: how do you prevent your best friend from getting heartbroken? 

“Hey, Gou,” Chigusa’s head is resting on her shoulder, her forehead pressing against Gou’s chin when the redhead turns slightly in an attempt to see her best friend properly. “What should I do?” 

“Um,” is the only thing Gou could say, because come on, Chigusa, you should know better than to fall for this. “Well, I’m—I’m not going to say you have more chance than half of our school’s female population whose eyes are also fixed on Makoto-senpai, but—“ 

“He told us that we’re cute.” 

“You know that’s something he’d tell any girl.” 

“You’re his manager. His best friend’s younger sister. And I’m your best friend.” 

_His boyfriend’s younger sister_ , Gou silently corrects, but bites on her tongue so it doesn’t spill out. “Uh. What are you getting at here, Chigusa?” 

“You’re in Tachibana-senpai’s inner circle! And I’m in your inner circle, so I should have a little, tiiiiiiny bit of advantage than the rest of Iwatobi High School’s Tachibana Makoto Fan Club, right?” and there it is, Chigusa’s trademark confident, pressuring gaze. “Riiiiight??” 

Gou sighs. “Are you actually sure you’re in love with him,” she deadpans, because sometimes she’s just so done with half of Iwatobi High School female population asking her stuff about Makoto every single day. Having your best friend suddenly fall in love with the infamous gentle giant when you know first hand that her affection won’t be returned just makes it a hundred times worse. 

She’s going to have to let Chigusa down gently. 

Chigusa exhales, almost dreamily. “Have you seen his smile. I mean, he’s just so—gentle, and kind, and easy to be around. He’s helpful to  everyone too, and he just—makes me want to be sweet to him, to be by his side and support him with absolutely anything—“ 

“I think his muscles are beyond attractive?” Gou offers tentatively. 

“His muscles.” Another dreamy sigh, and this time Gou nods in agreement. “I want to climb him like a tree. Preferably with his arms around me so I wouldn’t fall off. Hey, does he prefer the sweet, naïve-looking girl, or does he like the wild, perverted type more?” 

Gou thinks about it for a second. “I think he’s more attracted to emotionally-constipated, over-protective, and a-bit-of-an-ass kind of people.” 

Chigusa raises an eyebrow. “That’s very specific.” She pauses, eyes going wide. “Oh my god. You’re telling me he’s a do-M?” 

“….not really? He’s our school’s gentle giant, but there is a reason he’s _the_ killer whale.” Other than the size of his junk, according to her brother, which Gou refuses to think about because wow, _no_. “Nagisa-kun said once that Makoto-senpai is really scary when he gets possessive over something.” 

“Okay,” Chigusa says, rather dismissively. “So do you think he’ll at least consider me, if I start wooing him?” 

_Wooing_. Gou bursts out laughing. “You’re kidding.” 

“I’m not!” Chigusa pouts. “I’m already preparing lunch boxes menus, and I have come up with various plans, Gou, I think I can steal his heart in—let’s say, a month tops.” 

“Various plans,” Gou repeats, torn between laughing and pitying her best friend—she should probably let her know that Makoto is taken. Or at least, that he doesn’t swing their way. “I think you play too much otome game.” 

“Shut up, it teaches you how to woo boys properly.” 

“Oh my god, Chigusa, stop using that word, I’m going to choke you with something.” 

**\-----o0o-----**

Chigusa’s plans, apparently, include getting chummy with Nagisa (which is smart, that’s what Gou does at first when she tries to worm her way into the swimming club tight circle), crashing on the swimming club’s lunch on the rooftop with an extra lunchbox for everyone (which always happen to have Makoto’s favorite food),  dropping by the swimming practices with various reasons to bug Gou and cheer for everyone, hinting at everyone about helping to find new recruits, and extravagant scenarios that would leave her and Makoto in various shoujo manga moments. 

Example one: hanging out in the clubroom whenever the weather report predicts that it’s going to rain, innocently telling everyone that she forgot to bring her umbrella when it’s started to rain and everyone’s going home, so that Makoto—predictably—smiles and offers to walk her home, together under his umbrella. 

Example two: offering to help Makoto with various captaincy works (mostly just putting things on their right places, or bringing paperwork back to the faculty office, or memorizing tournament timetables—Chigusa might actually turn out to be a better manager than Gou is; Gou resents that a little), and then faking clumsiness that ends up with Makoto helping her. 

Example three: making various hand-made charms for Makoto, and actually asking him straight out if she doesn’t see him carrying them around _(did they not work? Did you not like them? Did I do a bad job? *insert a little fake tear here*)_. 

Gou is, honestly, quite impressed. Because as cliché and cheesy Chigusa’s plans are, they actually work, sort of. Makoto seems to start considering Chigusa as part of their little circle, and she’d caught them talking amicably about random things more than three times now, which is more than most of the other girls have managed. 

…maybe she should consider warning her brother, just to make sure he wouldn’t misunderstand things. Like, accusing Makoto of cheating with her best friend, because that would end _so well_. 

“I’m doing a good job so far, don’t you think, Gou?” Chigusa gushes when lunch break comes around. She pulls two lunch boxes out of her bag, waggling them in front of Gou. “Today’s lunch is croquette. I also brought chocolate pudding.” 

“Well, you certainly do it smoother than the other girls I know.” Gou replies distractedly, half of her attention on her phone. A mail, from her brother. How unusual. 

“I told you, I have advantage. Your position comes in handy, we have common things to talk about, the rest is easy,” Chigusa rounds on her, ducking her head to peek on her cell phone. “Your brother?” 

“Uh-huh.” The mail says, _meet you at the train station today after practice. Also fyi I’m out of lube_. 

Well. 

“Your brother contacts you a lot lately, doesn’t he?” Chigusa shifts behind her, and Gou reflexively angles her phone so her best friend can’t read the message. She fires off a quick, _Oniichan, wrong number. Also, I’m glad you two are doing it safely, but Makoto-senpai’s got enough things to take care of, at least spare him the trouble of buying lube by himself, geez_ , before turning to Chigusa with an overbright smile. 

“He’s just—making sure that I’m not dating someone behind his back.” Which sucks, a little. Mikoshiba kind of grows on you—probably the worst mistake Gou has made in the course of her high school life. 

Chigusa makes a pitying noise. “And you spend every day around half-nakes high school boys splashing around in the water.” 

Her phone vibrates again: _shit, I think someone changed my contacts. Send me Makoto’s number?_  

“The lure of muscles,” Gou shrugs, attaching Makoto’s number to the mail and adds, _promise me you won’t bother Makoto-senpai to buy lube and please refrain from doing stuff that are too kinky for high school students,_ before sendingit. She rises to her feet, gesturing to Chigusa’s lunch box. “Anything I like in there?” 

“No,” Chigusa sniffs. “You won’t help me with my love quest, I will not give you my delicious hard work in the kitchen.” But she opens the bos slightly anyway, and Gou brightens up at the glimpse of karaage. It sends a smile to Chigusa’s face, and Gou fondly remembers why they’re best friends. 

They go up to the rooftop, finding the rest of the swimming club making their usual loose circle. Makoto offers them a smile, and Chigusa proceeds to share her lunch much to Nagisa—and to a lesser extent, Makoto’s—delight. Gou settles down, feeling her phone vibrates again, and checks her phone to find another mail from her brother. 

_You are banned from hanging out with Nagisa and Rei. Effective by this very second._  

She chuckles. 

**\-----o0o-----**

Contrary to popular beliefs—or so Nagisa would have you think—Gou is not at all used to walk in on his brother making out with her team captain. 

Oh, she’s used to all the innuendos and embarrassing flirty acts, alright, and she’s already thought of them as part of the group’s inside joke, most of the times (don’t judge her, that’s how she copes), but hearing them and actually seeing them doing stuff is a different thing altogether. 

“Oh my god!” is her first reaction when she strides into her brother’s room, where she finds the two of them half naked on the bed, Makoto pinning Rin against the headboard of his bed. Her hands automatically fly up to cover the upper half of her face, as she listens to Rin’s yelp and Makoto’s splutter, and sheets rustling as they tangle among the boys’ feet. Something falls to the floor with a loud thud, and Rin curses. 

“Gou, what the hell? Learn to knock!” 

“I didn’t know Makoto-senpai is over!” she defends, taking the chance to peek between her fingers, and oh, wow, the two boys have apparently fallen on the floor, feet tangled in sheets, Rin on his back and Makoto’s face smushed on his chest, his body half hanging from the bed. She takes a moment to admire the display of muscles—Makoto’s been gaining a bit much, and her brother is as perfect as ever, oh, she never noticed how good Makoto’s biceps placed next to Rin’s abs, that’s a new discovery. 

“Gou-chan, please,” Makoto says, voice muffled against Rin’s skin, apparently refusing to look up at her. Interesting, Gou notes, his blush goes all the way down, it seems. “Stop ogling.” 

Gou blinks, and closes the gaps between her fingers again. “Right. I’ll just—“ she takes a step back. “Go back to my room and pretend nothing happens. Roger that. Uh, please don’t make too much noise, mom’s asleep.” 

Rin groans. “Gou, get out.” 

“Right. Okay. I’ll see you both at dinner. I guess. Also, I’ll just, I’ll tell you now, Haruka-senpai mailed me a while ago saying that he’s coming over to return Oniichan’s book, so, uh, you guys might want to, I don’t know, rush things. A little.” She whirls on her feet and flies off the door. “Bye!” 

The door closes behind her, and she pauses, her back against the door, listening. There are muffled murmurs, a slight argument maybe, from the way her brother’s voice rises up a little, but then everything dissolve into uncontrollable laughter, comfortable and warm and _amused_ , and she sighs in relief. 

The obvious happiness underlining their voices makes the corners of her lips curve up in a smile. 

And then she hears a moan, and promptly vacates the premise in record time. 

**\-----o0o-----**

“Hey,” Chigusa says, oddly quiet, when she sees her first thing in the morning. “Gou, are you sure Tachibana-senpai isn’t currently dating any girl?” 

“Nope,” Gou answers smoothly, because that’s the truth. She wants to say _he’s dating my brother and they seem happy about it_ , but that would be a horrible thing to do. “What about it?” 

Chigusa sighs, leaning back in her seat. “Sometimes I think he looks like he’s head over heels for someone. Sometimes I let myself think it’s me, but most of the times I think it’s someone else.” 

Gou pauses, searching for the right words to give. “Uh. The two of us are pretty much the only girls he’s close to? Not counting Ama-chan-sensei.” 

“Do you think he’s dating Ama-chan?” Chigusa’s eyes widen almost comically. “Oh my god, that would be a thrilling scandal! A teacher and a student—a popular one at that—can you imagine?” 

Gou stares at her judgingly. “Why are you excited at that very notion, I thought you like Makoto-senpai.” 

“Because it sounds romantic, that’s why,” Chigusa huffs. “I am a maiden, I dream of romantic things.” 

“Well, that’s one thing you have in common with my brother,” Gou says offhandedly, and blinks when Chigusa give her an odd look. “What?” 

“What does your brother have to do with this?” 

Gou backpedals. “Uh. Nothing. Just that—he’s Makoto-senpai’s best friend, and Makoto-senpai, uh, has a lot of experience handling him?” In more ways than one, but she doesn’t say that, of course. 

Chigusa looks thoughtful. “True. That means romanticism isn’t something foreign to him, which is good.” 

“He’s also a sap,” Gou adds quickly. Chigusa looks at her, an enthusiastic look crossing her face, and Gou amends with “and that’s all I’m going to tell you, I am not crossing any line with his privacy, I refuse to do so. Have you done your math homework?” 

Chigusa frowns. “We have a math homework?” Gou stares at her in horror, and Chigusa shrugs. “That aside, I think I’m going to confess to him. Maybe this afternoon, after practice.” 

The notion of introducing her head to her desk sounds very appealing right now, Gou thinks. 

**\-----o0o-----**

And of course, at that very same afternoon, Ama-chan-sensei decides to keep Gou in the faculty office longer, helping her sort out all kind of things and discussing the swimming club’s progress. 

She doesn’t mind, really, but she worries. Chigusa might have always been a pretty laidback and chill girl about everything, but she’s also passionate about the things she’s decided to do and Gou doesn’t want her to get hurt. She knows Makoto would let Chigusa down gently, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to hurt her. Gou needs to be there for her best friend, because Chigusa have always been there for her when she needs support, and her best friend deserves the best. 

Hopefully Chigusa’s taking the rejection well. 

She’s running across the schoolyard towards the pool when a familiar voice calls out to her: “Gou, hey!” and she stops dead in her track, eyes widening in surprise. 

“Oniichan?!” 

And there’s her brother, striding towards her in his Samezuka uniform, trying his best to be inconspicuous. Good thing it’s getting late in the afternoon, and most of the club activities have ended, so there’s only a handful of students around, looking tired enough to care about a student from another school sneaking into their school grounds. Rin pauses next to her, frowning at her reaction. 

“What? What is it?” 

“Did you sneak in—“ she begins, but closes her mouth and shakes her head. “Never mind. What are you doing?” 

“I was supposed to meet Makoto at the gate, but I thought I’d surprise him.” Really, Gou loves it when her brother grins that easy Matsuoka-patented grin, but Rin’s got the worst timing, here. Gou hasn’t seen Chigusa anywhere yet, which means she hasn’t made her move, or she’s not done confessing, or she’s currently crying and Makoto is trying his best to comfort her. There are a hundred possibilities of misunderstanding happening if Rin were to see them together now. “Why aren’t you at the pool?” 

“Ama-chan-sensei needed me at the faculty office.” They start walking again, and Gou wishes with all his heart that they wouldn’t stumble upon Chigusa doing her confession to Makoto—that would just be too shoujo manga-ish for her life. “Speaking of which, are you skipping practice, Oniichan? I thought Samezuka—“ 

“—And I like you a lot, Tachibana-senpai!” 

Gou halts on her steps so fast she nearly stumbles. 

Yes, okay, this is it. She’s officially done with her life. 

Rin makes a curious noise, and the tow of them turn towards the source of the voice. It’s roughly ten meters from them, rather obscured by the trees, but Gou can make out Chigusa’s tight bun from where she stands, and reflexively, she breaks into a run. 

“Oi, Gou—“ Rin calls, but she ignores him, skidding on the ground and dropping behind the bushes not far from where Makoto and Chigusa stand. Makoto looks bashful, half-guilty and half-flattered, one hand on his nape in his typical schoolboy embarrassment, and Chigusa is standing straight, eyes determined and confident, even though Gou could see the small tremors of nervousness on her hands betraying her composition. 

She feels her brother settles down onto a crouch next to her, eyes also trained on the two figure. She hears him lets out a soft, “oh,” and wonders what’s in his mind now. 

Makoto chuckles.  “Hana-chan, you’re really brave aren’t you,” he smiles, and Gou knows that smile, she knows how effective it is to disarm people. “I’m—your feelings, really makes me happy. And you’re a good girl, too; you’re kind and cheerful, and very helpful.” 

Chigusa tentatively nods. “I try to be,” she says. “Because I like Tachibana-senpai a lot, and I’d like to—support you. To be by your side and help you.” 

Makoto smiles. “I appreciate it, Hana-chan.” 

Chigusa’s hopeful face crumbles. For a second, Gou thinks that she’s about to cry, and wonders if it’d make everything worse if she punches Makoto for making her best friend cry, later. 

“You’re Gou’s best friend,” Makoto adds, “And a great one, too. I like Hana-chan; you make us laugh a lot and you’re a very fun person to be with, and the others like you, too. But I’m really sorry.” 

Chigusa’s smile trembles. “Can I know—why? I mean, is it me? Am I just not your—type or something?” 

Makoto flushes. “N—no, no, it’s not like that. It’s not Hana-chan, and I—I don’t have any type, it’s just..” he hesitates, looking uncomfortable to be standing there. “I just—um. Just like Hana-chan likes me, I… have someone I really, really like, too.” 

Next to Gou, her brother stops breathing. 

Chigusa looks up at Makoto. “So it’s true.” She says, voice barely above a whisper. “I thought, sometimes, you look like you’re so much in love with someone—“ 

Makoto’s face, if possible, turns even red. “Um. Yeah.” He scuffles his feet, and Gou thinks he looks like a twelve years old whose crush has just been revealed. “I like—them, a lot. They don’t go here, though, so it’s not like I see them every day. And sometimes they’re not honest about their feelings, and awful to people at times, but I love that about them, too.” 

“Oh,” Chigusa pauses. “Gou did say you prefer those who are emotionally-constipated and a bit of a jerk to people.” 

Rin’s elbow finds Gou’s arm, but Gou is biting down on a grin, so she doesn’t retaliate. 

Makoto laughs. “I like pretending that I’m taking care of them,” he says, voice turning fond instead of embarrased, and Gou wonders if her brother is turning red, too, next to her. “But they’re a very capable person. They’re passionate, they dream big, and they’re a lot like the sun. Brings everything around you to life, to move. They’re—blinding, I guess.” 

Chigusa grins. “Sounds like someone amazing to me.” 

“Yeah,” Makoto agrees, his smile turning back to an easy one. “They are.” 

Gou nudges at her brother, gesturing him to turn around and leave. She knows Chigusa would need some time to compose herself, and she’d rather give her privacy to do so. When Rin doesn’t move, she pulls at him, hard, and Rin scrambles up and follows her. 

They walk in silence towards the pool for some time, until Rin stops in his track and says, “Isn’t that your best friend?” 

Gou shrugs. “That’s the one.” 

“She’s in love with Makoto.” 

“She has a huge crush on Makoto-senpai,” Gou corrects. “Which, let’s face it, happens to half of the female population of this school, and probably some of the male, too, I believe.” 

Rin makes a nonchalant noise, but Gou can hear the crack in his voice. “That popular bastard.” 

She hides a smile. “The so-called bastard is very faithful to you.” 

“Don’t call him bastard, he’s older than you,” Rin gives her a look, and Gou sticks out her tongue. It earns her a hand ruffling her hair. “Honestly, Gou, you shouldn’t have let her gone through with the confession. How are you going to deal with a broken-hearted best friend, now?” 

“I don’t know. I’m considering to just tell her that Makoto-senpai is dating you, and hopefully she finds that just as romantic as the idea of Makoto-senpai dating Ama-chan-sensei.” 

Rin stares at her. “I don’t believe you sometimes.” 

Grinning, Gou points out, “And you’re still blushing.” 

“I am not,” Rin tells her haughtily, and strides forward past her, like maybe she can’t see him blush if he walks in front of her. Which is silly, because the shade of red reaches his ears. 

She shakes her head, murmurs a fond, “Boys,” and hurries up to keep up with her brother. 

**\-----o0o-----**

Just five minutes after they arrived at the pool, Makoto and Chigusa come back. 

“Oh!” Makoto says, face brightening like Christmas had come early. “Rin! You came!” 

“I did,” Rin shrugs, and Gou peers at the two of them from her spot merely four steps away. “You’re taking so long, and I don’t have a lot of time here, I have homework back in the dorm, so if you want me to help with your English—“ 

“Rin-chan missed you, Mako-chan!” Nagisa yells from the pool, making a splash as he kicks at the surface of the water from where he’s sitting on the edge of the pool. Passing him, Haruka floats calmly, eyes following Makoto and Rin’s figure in subtle attention. 

“We are supposed to be cleaning the pool,” Rei sighs. “We can’t even start if we don’t get Haruka-senpai off.” 

“Haru,” Makoto calls, “It’s getting cold, please get out of the pool so everyone can start cleaning and go home.” 

“I’ll get the net,” Gou says, but apparently she doesn’t have to, because Chigusa comes over handing her a net, with a grin and slightly puffy eyes. So she did cry. Gou takes her hands instead of the net, squeezing them supportively, and gives her a grin. “Thanks.” 

“Oh, it was laying around on my way here, so I just took it,” Chigusa shrugs. Gou laughs, throws the net at Rin, who catches it with a surprised yelp. 

“Get Haruka-senpai off the pool, Oniichan!” 

Rin stares at the net woefully. “I did not come for this.” 

Makoto laughs, and Gou watches as his arm wind around Rin, watches the way his fingers skitter at the line of Rin’s collarbone before settling on Rin’s shoulder, watches the way his body smoothly turns to accommodate Rin’s position. Those subtle gestures scream of possessiveness, in a way, and Gou finds it oddly adorable. 

Chigusa elbows her side gently. “You should’ve told me sooner.” 

“You wouldn’t even listen,” Gou complains good-naturedly, grinning at her. “Besides, you get to spend a lot of times with Makoto-senpai, so I figured you’re happy.” 

Her best friend shrugs. “I thought it was worth the try. You could’ve at least told me that he’s dating your brother—I wouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.” 

Gou pauses, eyes wide. “Makoto-senpai told you?” 

“Nope,” Chigusa answers, one hand tucking her strayed bangs back behind her ear, eyes fixed on Makoto and Rin who are bending down towards the pool, trying to pull Haruka out. “But Gou, have you ever noticed how much you talk about your brother? I can guess it straight away just from what Tachibana-senpai told me.” She grins, looking satisfied with herself. “Should’ve known. The best ones are always either taken, gay, or priests.” 

“I was sympathizing with you. Now I’m reconsidering my decision.” Gou chuckles. “Glad to see you’re not too down about it.” 

“Are you kidding? This is even better than the possibility of Tachibana-senpai dating Ama-chan-sensei. Hey Gou, do you know who tops?” 

“Oh god, I’m regretting this already.” 

Chigusa laughs, her voice tinkles like the summer bells, and Gou presses herself to her best friend’s side, glad that everything turns out alright. She glances up, to where Haruka is now climbing off the pool, to where Rin stands with a half-hearted scowl scolding the older boy about causing problems to everyone, blaming Makoto for spoiling him, to where Makoto grins and chuckles and denies any accusation of him spoiling Haruka. She smiles, as Rin and Makoto’s shoulders brush, as Rin’s hand comes up and rests on Makoto’s shoulder, as Makoto lets Rin lean on him like it’s the most normal thing to do. 

“They should try to be less obvious about it,” Chigusa comments airily. 

Gou agrees whole-heartedly. 

**\-----o0ofinitoo0o-----**


End file.
